Lenape Tech Purchases Land for New Adult Ed Building
A new Adult Education Center is to be built across the street from the existing Lenape Technical School instead of utilizing space in West Hills beside the Armstrong Educational Trust.
by Jonathan Weaver
The Lenape Technical School campus will officially be expanding.
As announced last night during the Joint Operating Committee meeting, land for a proposed-Adult Education Center has been acquired for $67,500 across the street from the current school facility.
Property negotiations have existed for approximately two years, according to Administrator Dawn Kocher-Taylor. She hopes to have more details regarding site development and preparation at their May committee meeting.
“We’re really down to pretty-specific layout of the inside of the building at this point, so we should be able to come back to you with a fairly-comprehensive plan and a timeline,” Kocher-Taylor said.
The property had been owned by Luby Gavron.
The acquisition was previously approved by the nine-member committee –who are representatives from all four districts. The panel took the resolutions back to their respective school boards, who also approved it.
Topographical maps and testing has also been performed.
Committee Chairperson Joseph Close – from the Armstrong School District - anticipated development.
“That’ll be great news- this has really been a long time coming,” Close said.
The committee wiill next apply for a subdivision of the property. That process may have already been started by Gavron, according to Solicitor Lee Price.
The structure will not be built of concrete block or corrugated steel, as per earlier committee discussions.
Graduation ceremonies will be held at 7PM May 25 within the school, but members discussed whether in the future it should be held off-site.
Since the gymnasium is not air-conditioned, Leechburg Area representatives questioned whether a ‘floating’ graduation between each of the sending school districts was possible.
Ceiling fans have been installed, but Kocher-Taylor did not know their effectiveness during a graduation ceremony full of students and parents.
The school has rented a $5,000 portable air condition in the past, but reported it was ‘not as effective’ as originally thought.
Committee members have also considered graduating students at the Belmont Complex in East Franklin Township.
During the next month, committee members will also vote on the school’s general operating budget proposal, which is more than $7.2 million.
The 2012-13 budget will have to be approved by 2/3rds of the four member districts – Freeport, Armstrong, Leechburg Area and Apollo-Ridge – Joint Operating Committee members and a majority of the 36-member “super board,” which consists of all members of the four school boards.
The committee unanimously hired Karla S. Ansani, RN, as a substitute Practical Nursing Assistant Coordinator/Instructor at a rate of $33 per hour.
The Lenape Tech Joint Operating Committee also discussed possibly holding future graduation ceremonies at a different site due to the gymnasium not being air-conditioned.
Lenape Tech | jweaver April 20, 2012
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By JornJensen, April 20, 2012 @ 7:24 AM
This is great news(to me) as I’m a big fan of technical and practical education. No mention in the story about where the money is coming from - for the building, that is. The land money is a small sum, but what about the building?
By asdgrad, April 20, 2012 @ 9:11 AM
This is great! Hold graduation out side on the soccer field or over at the Ford City football field.
By futureconcened, April 20, 2012 @ 10:30 AM
Hold onto your wallets ASD Taxpayers. Joe Close is committing you to pay for another new building! ASD pays 75% of the bill for Lenape, I would assume the same applies for this new building.
By scott_starr, April 22, 2012 @ 5:07 AM
Great Idea, we wouldn’t want to use one of the schools that will be closed for adult education.
By admin, April 22, 2012 @ 4:49 PM
Jorn - I did the initial article on this topic last year. Check out: http://www.thekittanningpaper.info/?p=14189
The building cost is $1.2 million. It is 9,000 square feet. Other details are in the article.
By jerry6, April 22, 2012 @ 5:47 PM
This is off the subject of this site here but Worthington man, I remember when I complained about the noise from the dirt bikes and four-wheelers and you said if you knew where I lived, you would drive by my house and roar your loud car or something worse than that. Now, you are complaining about the noise from fire sirens or police sirens. My mother always told me, “what goes around, comes around.”
By worthingtonman, April 22, 2012 @ 6:16 PM
The deal with the adult education is that they get tuition money. The last I heard the LPN program itself is was 12 to 13,000 dollars. I really doubt that any of the school districts should be or will be footing the bill for any of this. I would think the only cost to the taxpayer will be all the freebie educations given. does anybody know the answer to that?
By JornJensen, April 22, 2012 @ 10:27 PM
Admin - Thanks - I’ll look it up and read it.
By jfullerton, April 23, 2012 @ 12:58 AM
Futureconcerned: You know what they say about assume. There will not be taxpayer dollars used for this building. The Adult Education program is not funded by taxpayer dollars. This building has been in the works for a long time. One of the main factors is the cost of the rent at the Trust building. There will be a savings by constructing this building over what was paid for rent at the Armstrong Educational Trust. Plus, there will be opportunities to do training during the day as well in this new building. Kudos to Lenape for finally completing this.
By worthingtonman, April 23, 2012 @ 9:09 PM
@jerry6
I was not the one complaining about sirens. I said I deal with it. In fact listening to my dogs howl is the only thing that annoys me with the siren.You should re read the post before you label me as a hypocrit.
By JornJensen, April 24, 2012 @ 7:26 AM
jfullerton - Admin’s link, provided above, leads to a news item in the KP that verifies your statements above - no taxpayer money in this new building.
So, back to my original comment - this is great news for technical and practical education for our area. Thank you Lenape Vo-Tech Joint Operating Committee!
By kwiss4, April 24, 2012 @ 8:49 AM
I understand that the program will be supported by tuition, but where does the money come from to purchase the land and construct the building? Will there be a bond issue? What percentage of that bond issue would be the responsibility of each of the sending districts?
By The Phantom, April 24, 2012 @ 11:53 AM
According to the map provided this spot is where they park now. This is good news. If they bought the 2 lots directly across from the school, I believe that land fill with water when you start digging.
By futureconcened, April 24, 2012 @ 2:12 PM
I would assume that the tuition paid by the current adult students attending evening classes at Lenape would be used to help defray expenses of operating the school building. If those monies are diverted to build the new adult education center, then again I would assume that the costs to operate the Vo-Tech High School would increase and thus increase the support needed from the taxpayers.
Maybe the Joint Operating Committee needs to release some data to the media to explain how the new center is being financed and how that impacts the existing Lenape budget. Also, tell us what courses will be offered. It’s difficult to understand the value when so little information is reported without resorting to Right to Know Requests.
By JornJensen, April 25, 2012 @ 5:35 AM
futureconcerned - I share your concern and request for data. I didn’t want to come across as a naysayer, but rarely does the taxpayer get something for nothing.